The area is fringed by three concentric ridges or rings of hills, of which the formation rises from the surrounding plains. Pilanesberg is named after a Tswana chief, Pilane,[1] the 'Pilanesberg Alkaline Ring Complex' is the park's primary geological feature. This vast circular geological feature is ancient even by geological standards as it is the crater of a long extinct volcano and the result of eruptions some 1,200 million years ago. It is one of the largest volcanic complexes of its type in the world, the rare rock types and formations make it a unique geological feature. A number of rare minerals occur in the park. Pilanesberg Game Reserve rates high amongst the world's outstanding geological phenomena

Scattered throughout the park are various sites that originate from the Iron age and Stone age and show the presence of man from those periods in these areas.

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The park has an area of 572 square kilometres (221 sq mi). One can travel through in a standard road vehicle as although most of the 188 kilometres of track are not surfaced, they are well maintained. The three main tarred roads are named Kgabo, Kubu and Tswene. There are several camps serving the park from the outside, such as Bagatla and Manyane. Several lodges are situated within the park itself. For the day visitors there are several stops on the inside where there are bars and gift shops. Towards the centre of the park there is an artificially constructed lake, the Mankwe Dam, and Thabayadiotso, which means "the Proud Mountain".

The scenic terrain lies in the transition zone between Kalahari and Lowveld, and both types of vegetation are found here. As a result of the park being on a transition zone there are overlaps in mammals, birds and vegetation. Today, Pilanesberg Game Reserve accommodates almost every large mammal of southern Africa.[2]

The park has a rich array of southern African wildlife including the Big Five, the five most dangerous game animals in Africa. In the Pilanesberg Game Reserve today live most of the animal species of southern Africa these include lions, elephants, black & white rhinoceros, African buffaloes, leopards, zebras, hyenas, giraffes, hippos and crocodiles. The Painted Hunting Dog, Lycaon pictus had been extirpated from the park, but reintroduction efforts have been carried out recently,[3] with uncertain outcome. Over 360 bird species were counted. The Pilanesberg is not in a location which the Big Five animals would naturally inhabit, however they have been brought into the 550 square kilometres of African bushland.

As of December 2006 the total count of animals was approximately 6,000 including:

The Bird life diversity is excellent with over 360 species having been recorded.[2] Though some are migrants, most others are permanent inhabitants. Their food sources vary with some eating carrion or live prey, others eat seeds, fruit or tiny water organisms.

There is a self-guided trail in the Walking Area at the Manyane Complex in the east, which offers environmental education whilst game viewing and bird watching on foot. Also at Manyane there is a walk-in aviary with over 80 species of indigenous birds.

In the late nineteenth century, Pilanesberg served as a sanctuary to Mzilikazi’s rebel Zulu warriors who passed through the area as they fled the wrath of the Zulu king, Shaka. A mission station was established more or less in the northwestern part of the park, on the farm Driefontein, which lay wedged between a large section of land traditionally owned by the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela (commonly known as the Bakgatla) tribe. This land constitutes much of the northern region of today's Pilanesberg reserve.

What is now the southern section of the Pilanesberg reserve was originally a set of farms which were sold to and registered in the names of a number of Boer farmers by the Transvaal government in the 1860s. These farmers were responsible for building the Houwater dam - now known as the Mankwe dam - which is the Pilanesberg's largest standing water reservoir. During the 1960s, these farms were re-purchased by the South African government, which, under Apartheid policies, re-settled the Bakubung tribe from nearby Ventersdorp onto the farms Wydhoek, Koedoesfontein, and Ledig. These farms, situated on and in the southern part of the Pilanesberg reserve adjacent to Sun City, were subsequently delivered to Bophuthatswana, a large northwestern bantustan, for administration and control. As a result, the only remaining private property inside the Pilanesberg reserve amounts to 3 small sections (likely graveyards, approximately 3 hectares each in size) as well as a farm (approximately 608 hectares) registered in the name of Catherina Clark, a daughter of Jan Smuts.

Following Bophuthatswana's independence from South Africa in 1977, then-president Lucas Mangope decided to re-introduce wildlife and convert the Pilanesberg into a game reserve. A planning committee was established to develop the game reserve, which was to include the whole of the Pilanesberg mountains. However, to facilitate this new designation, people residing in the area had to be re-settled. Following that, all buildings in the area, including the mission church on Driefontein but excluding the magistrate court building, were demolished. (The magistrate court building, a lovely Cape Dutch style structure, burned down in an accidental blaze in the 1980s. It was subsequently partially rebuilt. A new building, the Pilanesberg Centre, was also erected near where the court used to stand.) Additionally, all non-native flora were razed from the region in an attempt to ensure only authentic native plant life would exist in the park.

Following negotiations with the Bophuthatswana government, the Bakgatla tribe, under Chief Tsidimane Pilane, agreed to the inclusion of the mountainous region of their property within the Pilanesberg reserve. The 60 families of the Bakgatla tribe farming and living near the mission station at Driefontein were re-settled under an agreement with the tribal authority. They were moved to a newly planned town on the farm Sandfontein, to the east of the Pilanesberg Game Reserve.

The Bophuthatswana administration also negotiated with the Bakubung tribe to purchase their land within the southern region of the park. The tribe was offered land on adjacent farms Zandrivierspoort, Palmietfontein, and Mahobieskraal, in exchange for portions of the farms Ledig, Koedoesfontein, and Wydhoek, on a hectare-for-hectare basis. As the agricultural value of the new land on offer exceeded that of the old, the Bakubung eventually accepted the offer. (Around the same time, Sun International obtained a ninety-nine-year leasehold over the adjacent farm Doornhoek and built the Sun City complex, which abuts the Pilanesberg reserve, along the common boundary with the farm Ledig.)

It was at this point that work began on Operation Genesis, which involved the reintroduction of long-vanished species after completion of approximately 100 km of fencing around the reserve's perimeter. This reintroduction was still ongoing when the Pilanesberg Game Park was opened in the early 1980s by President Mangope with Chief Pilane present.

6000 animals were resettled into the park over the course of the early 1980s with Operation Genesis, which was featured on a two-part episode on Wild Kingdom in 1981. It was the largest game resettlement programme in the history of the country. The 6000 animals were released into the quarantine area of 10 km² in groups and after a few weeks the fences were dropped. As the purpose of the park was a feeder for other parks no lion or cheetah were brought in. However leopard was naturally present as was brown hyena and mountain reedbuck. Currently this is The Park in the world that has the highest concentration of hyena. Also brought in was a family of elephant. As no mature bulls was brought in as they were too large, the young bulls caused a bit of havoc and killed 17 rhinoceroses. The reason for this was there was no parental care and the young bulls came into adolescence at too young an age. However by this time the transport techniques had improved so 6 older bulls were brought in from the Kruger. This suppressed the adolescence problem. The young culprits were all shot.

The creation of the Pilanesberg Game Reserve is considered one of the most ambitious programmes of its kind to be undertaken anywhere in the world.[2] Operation Genesis is still the largest game translocation undertaken in the world, and as a result the park now has in excess of 10,000 animals.

In 1990 when Nelson Mandela was released, tourism in South Africa boomed. Camps and lodges were built on the park's perimeter and it became a tourist destination. In response to this, in 1993, the focus was changed from game animals to predators. Lions from the Etosha National Park in Namibia were relocated to this park despite serious concerns from the surrounding communities. Since then, the lions' numbers have been increasing in the park. A similar attempt with cheetahs from Namibia has had no such success.

Following the attempted forceful reoccupation of Bophuthatswana by various factions in 1994, President Mangope was deposed and Bophuthatswana was reincorporated within the Republic of South Africa, placing the entire Pilanesberg Game Reserve officially within South Africa's borders.

The size of the park was increased from 552 to 572 km2 in May 2004 as part of a workable 10 year plan to establish a corridor between Pilanesberg and Madikwe Game Reserve. The 20 km2 that was added on the north western was the first bit from Pilanesberg's side. On the Madikwe's side there has already been several additions towards the south east. There are also several private owners dropping fences from the middle moving towards Pilanesberg and Madikwe. Property, that was selling for R30,000/km2 2 years ago, is now selling for R500,000/km2. Plans are being concluded to add a large piece of land to the park in the next two years. A recent poll conducted by the South African Tourism Board found that the Pilanesberg has jumped to the number 1 ranking on the list of most popular public game reserves in South Africa. This comes after many years of trailing the Kruger National Park. It is thought that Pilanesbergs close proximity to Johannesburg coupled with the fact that it is malaria free has led to its new-found popularity.